More Final Fantasy Type-0 DetailsCharacters, battle system (finally) and more!03.22.11 - 3:04 PM

Back in January, Final Fantasy Agito XIII got renamed to Final Fantasy Type-0, while still remaining a part of the Fabula Nova Crystallis mythology. We also saw a new trailer back then and heard tons of details. Like Final Fantasy Versus XIII, we didn't think we would hear much more until E3 Expo in June, but the magazines Jump and Dengeki PlayStation beg to differ.

You might remember that the playable characters are twelve students from the magic school, or Peristylium, in Rebrum, their home kingdom. Each of the four kingdom has in their possession a crystal which represents different power. Rebrum's, in case you missed all the previous stories, is Suzaku, wielder of magic. The invading kingdom, Milites, has the crystal Byakko, considered to be the wielder of science. The other two kingdoms, Anaze and Kogai, have crystals which are the 'wielder of knights' (Gebnu) and 'wielder of dragons' (Soryuu) - though we're not sure which crystal belongs to which country.

Jump also introduced a couple of playable characters, while Dengeki PlayStation got into the battle details. Ace is young and does seem childish, but he also has a fighting spirit, and carries cards with him. The card type will determine the effect it will have - attacking, supporting, and even types of magic. Examples include 'Fire ST' who sends out a fireball at an enemy, and 'Deck Open' where Ace can pull out four cards.

Queen, seen as an honest student, has the traits of a leader and carries a long thin blade. She is mostly a close-range fighter, and her normal attack is called the Mythril Sabre. Her special attack, 'Cross' which executes in the form of a cross, damaging enemies and healing her allies at the same time.

Another character, Nine (do you see a pattern with the names yet?) wields a lance. He can swing it and take out enemies, but he also has a jump attack which hurts enemies in the surrounding area when he lands. (Dragoon much?) Dengeki also detailed a support attack called 'Wall' which protects a character from enemy attacks - at least until this barrier taken a certain amount of damage.

Finally, a teacher named Kurasame was introduced. He has one of those cute-but-lethal Tonberries in tow, but we'r not sure why yet. Once upon a time, Kurasame was a very skilled warrior, even once called something like the 'death god of the ice blade.'

There will be a number of actions available to you in battle, including combo attacks. Each face button (square, triangle, circle, X) correspond to a different ability, and using these increases your ability gauge. (It sounds like the ability gauge can be used to execute special attacks, but this part isn't very clear quite yet.) Battles will be parties of three, but you can switch out characters as you need - which will be useful if someone dies as well as when you're facing enemies of different types, since each character has unique weapons and abilities.

One final interesting note is that killing a 'main' enemy ends a battle - think Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor, where you had to kill the foe in the middle. Some enemies will flee from you, while others may actually surrender and you can then extract information from them.

Final Fantasy Type-0 will be released sometime this summer in Japan, while its North American release window (though confirmed) is a little less concrete.